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I often hear about this "tension," but, despite reading Gun probably four times, I don't pick up on it. I think there's a certain grudging respect between two tough guys--Scaramanga and Bond--and, of course, there was the speculation in the psychologist's paper about the former possibly being a homosexual, but that's about the end of it--so to speak. And any homoeroticism in the novel certainly never made it to the screen version, IMO.
You look at recent films and they are now made for a more international audience and in particular China. The Shanghai scenes in SF were there in part to attract the growing Chinese cinema audience and, though I have not seen it, I understand that Iron Man 3 was made a view towards the Chinese market.
Or rather, as far as number of viewers are concerned, we're back to the level of the 60s in France for instance. But as the $ is weaker these years, the same money from abroad means more and more $ seen from the USA.
And about Skyfall :
USA : Roughly 36M viewers for 320M people,
Germany+France+UK+Italy+Spain : very similarly, about 34M viewers for 320M
I choose these country so that the figures look the same
But for SF :
USA : Roughly 300M$
Germany+France+UK+Italy+Spain : roughly 340M$ (at the time of the release of SF - with today's rate it would be roughly 360M$...).
However the part that goes to the studio is critical, and change a lot, etc. China should be 25%, before it was 13%, but right now it is currently 0%
Well everyone talks about the cut asked by Chinese, but there are also scenes in the Chinese version of Iron Man III that were not in the US one ! Tony Stark is cured by Chinese medecine in the Chinese version, by a Chinese actor :)
What started as a mildly interesting question appears, in the time I have been at work, to have descended into an impenetrable morass of infantile US v UK tit for tat sniping and borderline homophobia.
I can't even begin to be bothered to entangle any of this as once again so many people seem to be incapable of grasping the matter that is being discussed rather than flying off the handle like good old Dubya invading Iraq and thinking someone is having a go at the USA.
It's not an anti American thing it's the fact that the character of Bond is being bastardised (or bastardized if you must).
Americans are perfectly free to call 'trousers' 'pants', 'mathematics' 'math', pointlessly spell 'through' and 'light' 'thru' and 'lite' and numerous other treasonable crimes against the Queen's English if they want but the character of James Bond is not American so such utterances coming forth from his lips ring false. I would be just as irked if he called someone 'a great galah' as Bond is not Australian either (although the thought of the legendary Ray Meagher playing Bond is something I would certainly pay to see).
The fact is the terms 'cell phone' and 'station break' should not feature in a Bond film unless spoken by an American so Willygalore's initial hypothesis seems to hold true - that Bond films have been tailored so that even the cretinous masses who pay good money to watch Transformers 3 will not be confused.
If any Yanks want to take offence at that feel free - there is just as high a proportion of moronic proles in this country too so don't think I'm ripping into you personally (unless of course you are the type of retard who goes to watch the likes of Transformers or Battleship and needs the term 'mobile phone' translating for you).
When entering into such debates I always keep a quote to hand from the great Alpha Papa himself which generally tends to get to the nub:
'The trouble with you Americans is you haven't got a sophisticated sense of humour. Have you heard of Robin's Nest?'
I'm just thankful that the Germans didn't win the war because if they were the dominant culture now instead of saying 'mobile phone' Bond would say 'handy' which (especially if you ever hear someone say it out loud in a camp, Bruno accent) has to be the gayest term for a phone ever devised so judging by some of the questionable comments about John Logan this would wind some people up on here even worse than 'cell phone'.
Anyone seeing something wrong for an internationally experienced character to resort to an American (or Australian or Canadian) phrasing to turn out a funnier quip is just being dense IMO. :))
Anyone thinking that a British person would ever utter this phrase is being even denser. IMO
Why not say 'time for a break' then which actually has a meaning in this country?
The only possible meaning I can come up with for the term 'station break' in Britain is it possibly being some sort of excuse in the 'leaves on the line' vein from British Rail in the 70's explaining why your train wasn't running.
It literally has NO meaning in this country and a British person would never say it despite your desperate attempts to justify it.
You must be correct, I will never spell favorite with a 'u' again, or use the word 'whilst' or type 'cheers'. I must conform to my narrow nationality, no matter the international influence.
Silly silly British man. - Andrew from Buffy's final ep
:)) :)>-
Thank you @thewizardofice and @chrisisall for steering us away from all the mild homophobia :-)
Well, most critics disagree with his theory, you see. Even William Plomer, a homosexual man himself, didn't agree with this theory or with beefing up the narrative to include it.
What I really dislike is the inclusion of American cultural and linguistic usage to appeal to a lowest common denominator across the pond.
This was at its worst in the Brosnan era.
The single worst line in any Bond film in "Am checkin' out" in Die Anothe day. Spoken in a mid Atlantic brogue. And dropping the 'g' something Bond would never do. My head truly sank when I heard that
I think Skyfall on the other hand is one of the least American and most British bond film ever. And it's refreshing particularly in a world where the American influence spreads to every corner of the globe and erases local and national identity.
It was inconceivable that the UK would be serving coffee, cupcakes and cookies ten years ago. Now it's everywhere.
It was tea buns and biscuits when I was young.
I sympathize, Matt, but the EU may be an even more egregious offender in this area.
And outside of Europe too. The first thing I saw in Indonesia getting off the plane was a KFC.
And the EU is about far more than merely sponsoring the Euro.
Having studied its law and institutions in great depth, I can wearily agree with you on this point.
A man who quotes Buffy to make his rather convoluted and logically questionable point? Hardly Sir Edward Marshall Hall is it?
Not to mention that in the films except Casino Royale, Felix serves primarily as James's helplessly less awesome sidekick and support staff, who is at most a near-equal partner and at worst John Terry. I will not dignify Jack Wade any more than his regrettably necessary previous two mentions.
All this far outweighs using expressions like cell phone and station break (which I don't remember having heard outside the context of Tomorrow Never Dies).
I don't think you're missing the point slightly.
Great post. If you don't like Jack Wade I'd like to hear your thoughts on Michael Madsen.
"You think I'd leave this in the hands of the British?"
Well, perhaps the creator of James Bond, Ian Fleming is to blame for all this. Just look at how the American character and head of SHAPE, Colonel Schrieber is portrayed in the rather forgotten short story 'From A View to A Kill' (1960) to see what is perhaps the origin of this theme of British superiority over the Americans. In James Bond's defence I would point out that as a citizen of the UK, Bond is British and he is our hero first and foremost. We're very proud indeed of him here and gung-ho American heroes are two a penny in Hollywood, so allow us British our extravagance please.
No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!
(Sorry, such a great gag that I couldn't resist) ;-)
That sums it up. Usually it's the US of A that has to sort out everyone else's problems. So it's a pleasant change for a british character to have to do the same.
Yes, and his overt Britishness is what makes James Bond so very different from any other type of hero, in my view.
Which all brings us, very nicely, full circle to the original question posed. Good contributions from everyone involved. =D>